Appian: Roman History, Vol. III, The Civil Wars, Books 1-3.26

by Appian, Horace White (Translator)

Appian (Appianus) was a Greek official of Alexandria. He saw the Jewish rebellion of 116 CE, and later became a Roman citizen and advocate and received the rank of eques (knight). In his older years he held a procuratorship. He died during the reign of Antoninus Pius who was emperor 138–161 CE. Honest admirer of the Roman empire though ignorant of the institutions of the earlier Roman republic, he wrote, in the simple 'common' dialect, 24 books of 'Roman affairs', in fact conquests, from the beginnings to the times of Trajan (emperor 98–117 CE). Eleven have come down to us complete, or nearly so, namely those on the Spanish, Hannibalic, Punic, Illyrian, Syrian, and Mithridatic wars, and five books on the Civil Wars. They are valuable records of military history.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Appian is in four volumes.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics

576 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 150

About the author

Appian of Alexandria (/ˈæpiən/; Ancient Greek: Ἀππιανός Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Appianós Alexandreús; Latin: Appianus Alexandrinus; ca. AD 95 – ca. AD 165) was a Roman historian of Greek ethnicity who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.

He was born circa 95 in Alexandria. He tells us, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Aegyptus (Egypt), he went to Rome circa 120, where he practised as an advocate, pleading cases before the emperors (probably as advocatus fisci), that in 147 at the earliest he was appointed to the office of procurator, probably in Egypt, on the recommendation of his friend Marcus Cornelius Fronto, a well-known litterateur. Because the position of procurator was open only to members of the equestrian order (the "knightly" class), his possession of this office tells us about Appian's family background.

His principal surviving work (Ῥωμαϊκά, known in Latin as Historia Romana and in English as Roman History) was written in Greek in 24 books, before 165. This work more closely resembles a series of monographs than a connected history. It gives an account of various peoples and countries from the earliest times down to their incorporation into the Roman Empire, and survives in complete books and considerable fragments. The work is very valuable, especially for the period of the civil wars.

The Civil Wars, five of the later books in the corpus, concern mainly the end of the Roman Republic and take a conflict-based approach to history.

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

volume III covers the dominance of sulla and marius during the late Republic, ensuring that the reader understands that the power of Rome lies not in its city but in the generals that lead the men. With the Marius reforms, this is cemented for later generations. leading on from this, arguably the greatest internal struggle in Roman history: Pompeius the Great, the solidifier of Rome in Africa vs Julius Caesar, the conquerer of the gallic tribes. With this setting, Appian becomes immortal. succinct but thorough Appian follows the path of Caesar as he rises and falls in the Senate, to his assassination in 44bc. Ending Caesar by comparing similarities between him and Alexander the Great. No less for a man of his ability. Tantalisingly, Appian introduces Octavian, Caesar's adopted son, and covers what happens to the assassins next book.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

History of the Roman Civil Wars from the time of Gracchus (133 BC) to the assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BC). Gracchus the Tribune proposes to introduce Communism to Rome, the land of the rich being confiscated and given to the poor. As the Senate was made up of rich landowners they looked upon this plan with disfavor. The poor loved it, and by surrounding the Senate and threatening the Senators they got the Agrarian Laws passed. Gracchus thought that his laws would be repealed once he was out of office, so he decided was not going to leave office when his term expired. The Senate gathered armed supporters, trapped Gracchus in a temple, and killed him. Appian marks this as the first time a Roman official was officially killed by other Roman officials within the confines of Rome. He traces the downfall of the Republic to this date.

Later, more strife between the rich and the poor lead to uprisings in Rome, and Cornelius Sulla, who had an army ready to go to Asia, marches with it on Rome instead. He installs himself as dictator for life. Appian is overly complimentary of Sulla, unlike every other historian I have read. For them, the name Sulla corresponds to Hitler today. Appian thinks Sulla is not so bad, since he gave up power and walked the streets without guards. He did this because everyone loved him, not because he had the loyalty of an army right outside the gates, had control of the treasury, and every government official owed his posting to Sulla.

After Sulla's death the Romans went back to politics gangster style. Politicians had hired thugs to protect them and attack other politicians, assassination was commonplace, using the courts to strip opponents of their money or have them exiled or even executed was a daily occurrence. The government of Rome was no different than the rule of Don Corleone or Shaddam IV. Into this mess maneuvered Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. But then Caesar got too popular, Pompey was already too popular, and Crassus got dead in Syria.

This is a very good history not without coloring by the historian. It's interesting to see what Appian thinks of what he writes. He's a big proponent of some big government and is ready to get this messy republic out of the way to get a proper Emperor installed. It is also enlightening to see how he treats the Battle of Pharsalus. The thousands of mercenary non-Roman soldiers he does not even bother to count as basically useless.

We leave off with Antony in charge of Rome and Brutus and Cassius collecting troops for the eventual Battle of Phillipi.

[Alexander Rolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best volume of Appian so far. It covers the wars between Rome and Mithridates. I started reading Appian because Plutarch said Sulla's army was grumpy when he made peace with Mithridates, because Mithridates had orchestrated the murder of of every Italian in every town in the eastern Mediterranean on a certain day. And sure enough-- Appian tells the story of this atrocity, and it stands out from the many others of the time. The difficulty every town faced just trying to survive through 40 years of war gave me new appreciation for the Pax Romana.

War makes more exciting reading than the Pax Romana does, though. Almost every page had extraordinary events. The Romans were tunneling under the walls of a town, only to have the defenders dig into their tunnels and dump bears, wild animals and bees on them. The Romans were besieging another town when Mithridates sent 6,000 cavalry who broke through the Roman lines, scooped up the concubines he had there, and returned home. The town later fell to the Romans. The story sweeps along and is highly entertaining.

[Samuel Puopolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appian continues with the project that he laid out in his prologue, describing how the Romans defeated two great kings — Antiochus Epiphanes and Mithridates Eupator. My one complaint is that this edition would benefit from maps for those of us unfamiliar with the geography of ancient Asia Minor and the Caucasus regions.

[Legens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent account. Detailed and reliable as well as a pleasure to read. Probably the best single source on the Roman Civil Wars. Some bias toward Caesar and Octavian, but no big surprise coming from a writer during imperial times.

[Ellana Thornton-Wheybrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the era between the civil war of Julius Caesar and Pompey Magnus, up to the beginning of Imperial Rome. This book covers that era brilliantly.

[James Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appian's narrative of Caesar and the Augustan period, which begins at the close of this volume, is a pleasure to read and to think about.

[James Empson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guessing that most of those reading this book come to it with some prior knowledge of this period of Roman history, I am still going to recommend Appian's account as a well told tale - irrespective of its role as source material. I will confess I found the Greek took a little getting used to, but shortly began to enjoy the effect of this less flowery prose (I am not an expert and was glad for the availability of the often illuminating translation!)

[James Violand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roman history. The Civil Wars are all here. (There were more than that between Caesar and Pompey.)
Thank God we didn't live in those times. It held my interest.